Improvement in paper-stock from reeds



, UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE.

HENRY LOIVE, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN PAPER-STOCK FROM REEDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 20,884, dated July 13, 1858;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY LOWE, of Baltimore, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Manufacture or Stockfor the use of Paper- Makers; and I do'hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The object of my invention is to furnish paper-manufacturers with a cheap and at the same time complete substitute for rags, ropes, and other fibrous materials, and thus give rise to a new article of manufacture of great economical commercial value.

My invention consists of paper-stock made from reeds, (Amati maria macrosperma of Michaux,) the same being intended as a substitute for rags, ropes, and other fibrous material..

In order to enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I proceed to describe the process of manufacture.

vMy new stock is made from the common reeds growing in the swamps of the Carolinas and other Southern States, known to botanists as the Amndinaria WGCTOSPGTHML of Michaux, and now'commonly used for fishing-poles. In the process of disintegration I prefer first to cut the reeds into short piecessay two or three inches in length. For this purpose I employ the rag-cutter, and I prefer to have the knives rather dull, so as somewhat to split the pieces lengthwise, and thus better prepare them for the chemical treatment. The reeds thus out are next boiled in a tub with a weak solution of muriatic or sulphuric acid of about 4 Baum during six hours, or until the pieces of boiled reeds, upon being bent backward and forward, will no longer crack, as do the dry reeds, and the joints are fully acted upon by the acid liquor, or the same effect may be produced by cold or tepid infusion; but in this case the liquor must be more strongly acid, or the reeds must be longer subjected to its action. The acid liquor is now drawn off into another tub for future use, after which water must be run freely through the stuff to wash out the remaining acid. The washed reeds are then introduced into a revolving boiler, with the usual amount of water for other paper-stock, and there is added about ten pounds of caustic soda for the boiler may be let down into some suitable vessel, the liquor drained off, and the prepared fiber pressed into bales or cakes, ready for the market.

If the stock be intended for wrapping-paper, or any unbleachedpaper, it is advantageous,

afterthe-above. alkaline treatment, to pump into the boiler a solution of alum, in order to neutralize the soda and strike the gummy matter from the liquor into or upon the fibers, where it acts as a sizing, and also lessens the waste. After the addition of the alum, the action of the revolving boiler may be continued about one hour. Care must be taken not to use ammonia alum or carbonated alkali, lest the escape of gas consequent upon the mixture should cause an explosion of the boiler. A safety-valve may be used to guard against such accident; or the boiler may be opened be fore the introduction of the alum, though I prefer adding the alum by means of the pump, as above described, for the purpose of saving time.

If the stock be designed for white paper, I omit the alum treatment, because the alum acts as a mordant upon the coloring-matter, and

thusinterferes with the process of bleaching.

When the manufacturer receives the prepared reed fiber, he soaks it in hot water until it is soft, and then furnishes the soft stuff with sufficient water into the vat of the new grinding-engine invented by Joseph Kingsland, J r., of'Franklin, New Jersey. Here the heat should be kept ;up by means of steam, and the stock raised into the Kingsland engine and pulped, as is .done with the halfstaff made from other materials. I

It is obvious that the details of this process may be somewhat varied. Thus the acid may be omitted and the cut reeds introduced directly into the revolving boiler; then water is furnished, and to every one hundred pounds of dry reeds fifteen to twenty pounds of caustic soda is added; then proceed as when acid is used. r

Having thus described my invention, What 0r paper-stock being prep ared substantially I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent as set forth. of the United States, is-

The prepared reed fiber, or new article of HENRY LOYVE' manufacture above described, as a substitute Vitnesses: for rags, ropes, and other fibrous materials EDM. F. BROWN, for the manufacture of paper, said reed fiber DANIEL BREED. 

